For some reason I have been feeling rather "Grinchly" so far this season, finding it harder than usual to get into the Christmas spirit. I usually have no problem at all, but this year, things are different and I have no idea why. But today I spent a few minutes inside Creations by Helen for some gift ideas and I am finally starting to feel a twinge of that ol' Christmas spirit. So, let's capitalize on that and take a look at what holiday-themed events are still to come this month in Niagara.
Tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow afternoon at 2:30, Chorus Niagara presents their Christmas concert and yes, this year it is Handel's Messiah. For some, Christmas just doesn't begin until Handel's Messiah is here, and I must admit I count myself amongst those souls. One year, I even did two in one day! I attended the Chorus Niagara Sunday afternoon performance in St. Catharines and then in the evening, drove to Guelph for the Guelph Chamber Choir performance at the River Run Centre. I loved hearing two different approaches to the same work in the same day, but now that I am somewhat older and (hopefully) wiser, I doubt I will do that again soon.
Chorus Niagara presents Messiah every other year so you can appreciate the work more, and that seems to be a successful strategy Artistic Director Robert Cooper has followed for several years now. Usually in their non-Messiah years, another group in the area would pick up the slack and present theirs, but this year Chorus Niagara has the playing field all to themselves.
Soloists joining Chorus Niagara tonight and tomorrow include David Trudgen, counter-tenor, Isaiah Bell, tenor, Jacqueline Woodley, soprano and Anthony Cleverton, baritone. The Talisker Players accompany them along with Chorus Niagara organist Lynne Honsberger. Tickets should still be available for both performances at the door if you want to take a chance, although seating will be tight for either performance.
Tonight's performance is in Grimsby at the modern Mountainview Christian Reformed Church; tomorrow afternoon at the almost as modern Calvary Church on Scott Street. If you go, don't forget to stand during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus, by the way.
Elsewhere around the Region this weekend, Canadian singer Michael Ciufo presents his Christmas concert tonight as part of the Niagara Concerts season in Niagara Falls at the auditorium on Epworth Circle. The concert begins at 8 pm and tickets should still be available at the door. Sunnday afternoon Canadian singer John McDermott pays his annual visit to the Centre for the Arts, Brock University at 2:30. McDermott is always a crowd favourite wherever he goes, so this concert will likely be close to a sellout. You can call the Brock box office for tickets at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257, or take your chances at the door tomorrow afternoon.
There is another Christmas Choral Concert this weekend in Niagara, and that is Sunday night at 7 pm at the Niagara United Mennonite Church on Niagara Stone Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The Rotary Club of NOTL presents their 12th annual concert featuring choirs and other groups from area churches including St. Mark's Anglican, Bethany Mennonite, Niagara United Mennonite, St. Andrew's Presbyterian, Grace United, as well as the Evergreen Singers and the Wandering Minstrel.
The annual fundraiser is only $ 20 a ticket, with proceeds going to community programs in Niagara, Pathstone Mental Health, and RAFT. As well, a share of the proceeds will go to the Rift Valley water collection program in Kenya, where rainwater harvesting tanks are constructed to help the rural poor to collect rainwater due to limited rainfall and contaminated ground water. Tickets are available from any Rotarian or at the door tomorrow night.
Although I have written before in this space about the newest Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects show for the holidays, it bears repeating as the show continues at the Seneca Queen Theatre in downtown Niagara Falls through to December 16th. It's a live stage adaptation of the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life, although adapted by Jon Osbaldeston and director Barbara Worthy as a radio play based on the 1946 Lux Radio version. All the actors present the action as you would see it if you were sitting in the radio studio rather than listening at home, complete with the requisite sound effects man right there on stage with them.
Many of the actors are Shaw Festival stalwarts, including Patty Jamieson, Jenny L. Wright, Jeff Meadows and Ric Reid, along with several more local actors, some of whom handle several characters throughout the production. One of the nicest parts of the production, for me at least, is the fact they have modelled the broadcast on a CKTB Radio studio setting circa 1946, so if you have memories of those long-lost days of live drama on the radio, this production is the one to see.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased through the box office at905-374-SHOW or by logging on to www.lyndesfarnetheatreprojects.com.
Looking a little further ahead in the month, the annual Christmas Pops concert with the nso comes up next weekend, titled A Holiday Wonderland. Niagara Symphony Associate Conductor Laura Thomas has programmed a varied concert featuring tried-and-true holiday classics as well as some surprises, including the rarely-heard Beatlecracker Suite, based on Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite but featuring music of The Beatles. It is quite a clever work I have long admired and had in my collection at home, and I am currently offering the original version on a new Classical Beatles collection available through my website, www.finemusic.ca. Email me through the website or directly at music@vaxxine.com if you want a copy for the holidays.
The concerts are Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 2:30, both at the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University. Tickets are available at the door or in advance through the Brock box office at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257. As always I will be set up in the lobby before, after and at intermission at both concerts with lots of holiday music available for purchase.
Finally, the Gallery Players of Niagara present Glissandi Christmas with guest narrator Guy Bannerman for two performances December 21st at Grace United Church in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and December 22nd at Fonthill United Church. Both are evening performances at 7:30, and feature a number of Christmas classics as well as Bannerman narrating Howard Blake's The Snowman. For tickets, call 905-468-1525 or go to www.galleryplayers.ca.
That's a lot of music for the holidays, but hopefully some of the events will find their way into your busy schedule this month.
Enjoy!
December 8th, 2012.
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